Hammer for firearms



Oct. 17, 1939. D. B. WESSON HAMMER FOR--FIREARMS Filed July 17, 1937 odowodoom voq a...

INVENTOR 2006148 .5. M880 BY W 77mg ATTORNEY S Patented Oct. 17, 1939 NITED STATS PATENT OFFICE HR FOR FIREARMS Application July 1'7, 1937, Serial No. 154,241

1 Claim.

In the use of firearms of the revolver type for rapid firing, particularly for target work, it is preferred by many marksmen to cock the hammer manually without relying on the double 5 action mechanism on account of the greater accuracy thus obtained. While this is possible with revolvers as now constructed, I have found that improved results, particularly in avoiding the necessity for shifting the grip with which the a revolver is held and in maintaining the gun as nearly as possible in the correct line of sight during cocking, can be obtained by a change in the shape of the hammer. This change, while simple, produces marked improvement in the .5 handling of the gun.

The usual revolver hammer has a tail or thumb piece united with the body of the hammer by a concavity so positioned that when the hammer is rocked to cocked position the end of the thumb 50 extends into this concavity. To make the cocking action easy the tail is in commercial revolvers located with its contacting surface facing upwards and close to a vertical line passing through the center of rotation of the hammer when the revolver is held with its barrel pointing horizontally. The motion of the tail is away from this vertical line and in the nature of a rotation about the pivot point of the hammer.

In this manner the thumb can pull directly towards the butt of the revolver, the force on the tail being partly to produce rotation and partly radial. This is convenient due to the configuration and physical association of the thumb and hand. For ordinary purposes this is satisfac- 35 tory, but for rapid fire shooting difficulty is experienced from two sources. In the first place if the end of the thumb strikes the bottom of the concavity, further movement of the hammer becomes more difiicult. In the second place the point of leverage constantly shifts closer to the axis of rotation of the hammer, while the hammer spring is being constantly compressed and, therefore, the resistance is increasing. For both of these reasons the customary type of hammer 4 is so little suited to rapid fire work that most marksmen shift the position of their grip on the revolver considerably in order to secure a satisfactory leverage for cooking the hammer positively and rapidly.

50 To produce a hammer in which these objectionable characteristics are avoided I have found that the only change necessary from standard practice is in the shape of that part of the hammer which is gripped by the thumb. Instead 55 of providing the hammer with a tail piece merging into a concavity to receive the end of the thumb, I abolish the tail piece altogether, and shape the hammer on a convex surface preferably increasing in radius as the contact point moves towards the nose of the hammer. 5 In a. preferred form the convex surface does not merge tangentially into the nose portion of the hammer, but merges therein with a smooth but distinct hump over which the thumb may engage to give a more positive grip near the end of the stroke.

These features can be made clearer by a consideration of the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partially broken away, showing the improved hammer in its relation to the other parts of the gun;

Fig. 2 is a detail of the improved hammer;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the hammer; and

Fig. 4 is an end view thereof. 2

The revolver 10 may be of any desired type not necessary to describe in detail, in which the hammer H is released by a trigger I2. The thumb grip portion 13 of the hammer is made convex, preferably laterally as well as longitudinally, and is knurled to increase the grip. The longitudinal convexity of the portion I3 is preferably slightly eccentric to the pivot I4 on which the hammer rotates so that the radius of the grip portion increases towards the nose portion 15. The convex portion I 3 preferably merges with the concentric portion i6 so as to produce a slight hump ll.

As the hammer is drawn back by the thumb the leverage will at no time decrease, and near the end of the cooking motion the engagement of the thumb with the hump l'l materially aids the maintenance of a proper grip just at the time when this becomes most important. During the cocking of the hammer the contact between the 40 thumb and gripping portion I3 is in the nature of a rolling contact, the ball of the thumb contacting the outer end of the portion I3 first and the point of contact moving towards the tip of the thumb and the hump H as the hammer is cocked. It has been found that both the rapidity and the accuracy of fire are materially improved.

I claim:

A revolver having a stock and a trigger release, pivotally mounted hammer, said hammer comprising a top surface having a rear thumb gripping part and a forward part concentric with respect to the hammer pivot, said rear part forming a convex thumb gripping portion in the shape of a curve the radii of which pass through a point slightly eccentric to the hammer pivot and increase in length from the rear toward the front of the thumb gripping part, said convex part depressing sharply where it merges with said forward concentric part to form a hump, said thumb gripping part lying substantially vertically over the pivot point of the hammer when the revolver is held with its barrel horizontally whereby the hammer may be cocked by a direct backward pull exerted through the thumb of the hand.

DOUGLAS B. WESSON. 

